Higgins edges out Rocket

Defending Grand Prix champion John Higgins held his nerve to see off world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-4 during a classic encounter in front of his home crowd.

The two giants were paired together in the unusual unseeded draw at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, and it proved to be a tense encounter.

World number one O'Sullivan led 4-3, only to miss a great chance to clinch the match in a nervous eighth frame. Higgins, though, showed no fear in the decider, producing a break of 94 to book a place in the quarter-finals.

O'Sullivan, who claimed last month's Shanghai Masters title, had opened up with a break of 131 but Higgins fought back to lead 2-1 capitalising after O'Sullivan missed a red to the middle pocket.

A break of 63 saw 'The Rocket' tie the match, before in frame five he was allowed back to the table following 62 from Higgins. The Essex player went on to clear the colours, sinking the pink somewhat fortunately off two cushions to lead 3-2 at the mid-session interval.

O'Sullivan was ahead 57-37 in the next frame, when he missed a long red across table into bottom corner and Higgins drew level at 3-3.

There were, though, no slip-ups from the world number one when he quickly chalked off the next frame to close in on the match. However, after a break of 50 in the next, O'Sullivan could not find an angle on any loose red, which allowed Higgins a lifeline.

The Scot, though, failed to produce a safety, but O'Sullivan then spurned a straightforward pot into the bottom left corner which would have set him up with a match-winning break.

As the tension got to both men, Higgins lost position when clearing the colours, then missed a routine pot on the blue down the cushion, but O'Sullivan could not capitalise as the Scot, roared on by the Glasgow crowd, closed out the frame.

O'Sullivan looked anything but composed, when he hit the pink as he tried to escape from an early snooker and then missed a long red, which proved crucial. Higgins split the reds to open the pack up, and made no mistake with a break of 94.